


Frida's Fears

by fuzzybooks



Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Past Character Death, of an original character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 09:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuzzybooks/pseuds/fuzzybooks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bofur is generally a likable dwarf, and he had no idea that Bombur's wife thought otherwise until he overheard a conversation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frida's Fears

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: Bofur is so very likeable that I think Bombur's wife ironically doesn't like him. And the influence he has on her and Bombur's children.
> 
> Bofur's actually oblivious until he accidentally overhears his sister-in-law talking to Bombur: "If he's so fond of children, why doesn't he have his own brood? Or can he not find a wife?"
> 
> It couldn't have hurt more if she had stabbed him right in the heart.
> 
> http://hobbit-kink.livejournal.com/4373.html?thread=9355029#t9355029

Frida loved Bombur, she really did, but she couldn’t stand the way his no good brother spent so much time with her children. He kept telling them tales that made them come running to her because of nightmares, he ate them out of house and home, and she just couldn’t stand that her children kept looking up to this fiend of a dwarf, a truly lousy role-model, never had a penny left at the end of the day. She and Bombur worked hard for their coin, and to keep it for their family, where Bofur was off doing Mahal knows what with his money and he had the gall to ask them for food! Not to mention, she had seen her husband handing him some of his tips from cooking, as if they didn’t have little enough, she huffed.

It all came to a head one day when she had been taking care of her screaming children all day, and then all that blasted dwarf had to do was waltz in and talk and they all settled right down to listen.

She cooked and fumed and when her husband came home she couldn’t hold it in any longer,

“What does he think he’s doing? We can’t afford to feed him! Where is he putting his own paycheck? Down at the brothel? Or maybe the whore’s house? I don’t care that he’s your brother, Bombur, he can’t stay! And if he truly cares for children so much, why doesn’t he have any of his own, hmm? Because he can’t find a wife? No wonder! He’s a scoundrel!” The words burst out of her, loud and shrill.

-

Bofur had finally gotten the little ones to settle down for a nap, and was going to see if he could get some stew to take with him; he really didn’t think the food the physician gave Bifur really went very well with his stomach. He heard a raised voice and paused, unsure if he should interrupt, when he could make out what Frida was shouting about. Her words hit him like a punch to the guy. He had never wanted to place any burden on his younger brother, he made sure the babes were covered by their blankets, before making his way out the back door.

He had never known Frida felt that way about him, he had thought the kindness she directed towards him was genuine and he had never seen any hints that it was not.

As he walked down the streets, his feet directing him, mindlessly, towards the house where Bifur was still healing, he couldn’t help but turn his thoughts to Moira.

They were childhood sweethearts, he had been overjoyed when she had started courting him. They had been near inseparable, spending their days and nights together, until that fateful day.

It had started off oddly, they had gone to the physician since Moira had been sick on and off, she’d told him not to worry. They had been sent off, told that they’d get the results later that day. They had gone back to work, and to this day, he could only wish that he had been more insistent, that she would have stayed home, they could afford to miss out on a day’s pay, but she had been so full of spirit and his concern hadn’t swayed her, so off to the mines they went.

He never saw her alive again, her section had been caught in a rockslide,and the foreman deemed there to be no survivors. Bombur had gotten him away from the mines when they ran into the physician, who smiled at Bofur and told him he was going to be a father.

-

Bombur was stunned. He had never gotten the impression that his wife didn’t like his brother. Though now that he thought about it, there was the sighs and the looks that he hadn’t really known how to interpret.

“Frida. I told you that Bifur came home injured. The physician had to be paid, and still has to. We can’t afford it, so Bofur stepped in to do what he could. That’s why he’s working at the mines and selling toys.” Bombur sighed. Frida’s glare had lessened, but she stood her ground.

“That doesn’t change the fact that he’s a bad influence on the children, he never takes anything seriously!” She huffed. “And he keeps scaring them with his stories. He’s not the one that has to comfort them in the night. I just don’t want him in my house, Bombur.”

Bombur wanted to tell her of Moira, the dwarven lass that had lit up his brother’s world and taken the sun with her when she died, but he knew it wasn’t his place. This wasn’t the time for it, not when tension was running high. He wanted to tell her that the smiles and laughter were what kept his brother going, that his nephews and nieces kept the memory of what could have been alive, that if he couldn’t be a father, he was going to be the best uncle he could possibly be.

But words had never been Bombur’s area of expertise. Words were Bofur’s, his brother that could talk and build up worlds with words alone. Words that would never manage to convince Frida of his sincerity, being one that valued actions far beyond words, and once she had decided that someone was not likable, she was as unmoving as the mountain they lived in.

In the end they came to a compromise, not aware that Bofur had overheard her shouting, and Frida always kept an eye out for a reason to get him out of her home. She tried to see the good in him, for her husband’s sake but he rubbed her the wrong way, and the dinners turned awkward. Eventually Bifur healed and Bofur moved in with his cousin permanently and while Frida was overjoyed, she knew better than to show that near Bombur, who missed having his brother around.

**Author's Note:**

> I really didn't want to make Frida out to be a bad/horrible person, or the evil stepmom/witch type person, because she's not. She merely does not like Bofur and truly doesn't feel he is good for her children. And first impressions can be hard to shake. I hope that came across.


End file.
